BCS Rankings: The Two Best Teams Are Alabama and USC, According to EA Sports

According to the Bowl Championship Series rankings, Notre Dame is the No. 1 ranked team in the country, with Alabama just behind. According to USA Today, Notre Dame is once again at the top while Alabama is right there as well. According to the AP Top 25, Notre Dame is numero uno and Alabama is dos.

NCAA Football 13, the premier college football video game that nonetheless manages to disappoint every year, ranks Alabama at the very top and the second spot goes to the USC Trojans, currently holding no place in BSC’s Top 25. Accoding to this video game, the two most powerful teams in the country are the Crimson Tide and and Trojans. Yes, the preseason polls had USC at the top of the AP poll, and the Trojans were ranked No. 3 in the USA Today poll and in the first Bowl Championship Series poll, USC came in 10th ... but in the end EA Sports was completely unable to account for the ebb and flows of a college football season.

Ironically, preseason had Alabama second in USA Today and AP polls. However, looking at their current standing, it is amazing that Notre Dame ranked fifth in the preseason USA Today poll yet, was #24 in EA Sports’ books.

So, in sum, EA Sports got things completely wrong (or USC had one of the biggest football season meltdowns ever).

The game, though, does completely miss the mark in terms of season ratings. This is absolute death for the statistically inclined (which, by the way, is the only way to enjoy a sport: everyone else who doesn't concern themselves with this is just a monkey pointing at the screen and clapping at all the pretty colors).

Interestingly, EA Sports will play a part in tonight’s halftime show for the Bowl Championship Series finale when they will announce the first-round winners of the NCAA Football Cover Vote, where fans decide which team’s player will grace the cover of the next NCAA game. In the lead there, ironically, are Notre Dame and Oregon. This is only the first stretch of voting, however, as 32 teams will qualify for the next round, each hoping to earn the tremendous honor of gracing the cover for a video game series that Gamespot says, “desperately needs new ideas.”

Perhaps it’s time that EA took notice from their own FIFA 13 and incorporated Match Day, a system that updates stats and skills for both players and teams based on their recent performance. It certainly gives the game more playability and could be a worthy addition to the struggling football franchise. As it stands, however, these dated rankings are about as glaring a mistake as ignoring the BCS rankings completely … and EA kind of did that with Notre Dame.

The BCS National Championship game airs tonight on ESPN, ESPN 3D, Xbox Live, and ESPN3/WatchESPN and will be played between Notre Dame and Alabama.